Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi has announced an agreement over compensation between his country and the families of the 170 victims of a French airliner that exploded in 1989. The move is expected to pave the way for the lifting of UN sanctions against Libya.
Qaddafi made the announcement Sunday in a televised speech on the eve of the anniversary of the 1969 coup that brought him to power. He did not reveal details of the compensation package.
Families of the passengers who perished when the UTA airliner crashed over the Niger desert on Sept. 19, 1989, have been lobbying for more compensation from Libya. A French court earlier convicted six Libyans -- including Qaddafi's brother-in-law -- in absentia over the bombing. In 1999, Libya offered victims' families US$33 million.
However, France wanted to renegotiate the compensation after Libya recently agreed to pay families of the 270 victims of the 1988 Pan Am bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, a total of US$2.7 billion, or between US$5 million and US$10 million each.
Qaddafi said the UTA "file was closed" after it paid the initial compensation amount to the French families of the victims.
But he said the French government had come under pressure from the victims' relatives after it became clear that the family members of the Lockerbie victims would receive a higher amount of compensation.
Qaddafi spoke earlier Sunday by phone with French President Jacques Chirac. The French Foreign Ministry released a statement saying the French-Libyan contacts were continuing ``in a constructive spirit.''
"It [the deal] just needs finalizing, which will happen in the next few hours," French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin told French radio.
On the Lockerbie deal, Qaddafi said Libya was compelled to pay the compensation so sanctions against Libya could be lifted and its name removed from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism.
"Is it about money? What can we do with money? Is it not to defend our country? What matters to us is honor. We don't care about money," he said.
Qaddafi, who wore a white suit when he delivered a speech at an undisclosed open-air auditorium packed with thousands of cheering Libyans, touched on a wide range of issues, in particular the US-led occupation of Iraq, Libyan relations with America and the Arab world and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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